Tropical oceans of the world facilitate operation of giant heat engines between their warm surface waters and their cold deep waters. For example, a typical temperature of the surface waters may be between 25 to 27 degrees Celsius, and a typical temperature of the deep waters temperatures may be between 4 to 6 degrees Celsius. Such temperature differences assist the heat engines in vaporizing and condensing a working fluid, which in turn drives a turbine to produce electricity. Such systems are often referred to as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants or systems.
Unfortunately, there are a number of problems associated with current OTEC systems, including low energy conversion efficiency, a higher cost of operation, and so on. Most ocean locations suitable for conventional OTEC plants are at great distances from population centers and require an expensive and difficult transport mechanism to bring generated energy to market. These extensive infrastructure costs and inherent inefficiencies promote great difficulties in attempts to scale up such operations to meet the world's significant energy needs.
The need exists for systems and methods that overcome the above problems, as well as provide additional benefits. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description.